The Darkness is Rising
by ElizaDoALot
Summary: *DISCONTINUED* There is a darkness that is beginning to rise, and Teddy Lupin is trying to stay as far away from it as possible: he doesn't want a repeat of last year. As he enters his second year, Teddy comes face-to-face with those who dare to pose a threat to the safety of Hogwarts - will he and his friends be ready to stop the oncoming darkness?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hiya guys! I'm back! I've just completed my other fic 'Is This More Than You Bargained For?', so you guys can go and have a read of that if you want. But more importantly: Teddy's back! What do you think will be in store for him and his friends this year? Will Professor Akami make a return? What spells will Teddy learn this year? Are there more adventures into the night awaiting him and his friends when they return to Hogwarts?! Read on, and find out!**

 **IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: These characters, though I love them all dearly, are not mine; they belong to Bloomsbury Publishing and JK Rowling respectively. Any characters that are of my own creation will be mentioned below.**

 **OCs: Estrella Ruiz, Felix Luperon, Nikolai Bremovich, and Gerald Hastings**

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE: THE AWAKENING**

The storm raged on through the night as the three met in a tumble-down house in the Spinner's End; the house was rumoured to have belonged to Severus Snape, a man whos loyalty was widely argued.

"Vhen are ve going to get this thing over wit?" Nikolai grumbled. It had taken him years to escape from Azkaban, and now he was finally free from that dreary place, paranoia had let itself take root in his mind. "I don't like it here."

Estrella clapped her compatriot around the head. " _Shut up_! The old lady who lives to the right of us likes to poke her nose in." She imitated the Muggle shopkeeper from the grocers in town.

Their final companion, Felix Luperon, appeared in the doorway. "Right, let's get this bloody plan sorted: I don't want to be here anymore than you two idiots do."

The three sat around in the small library; since the fall of their commander Mitsuko Akami in June, the Death Eaters further disbanded and went deeper into hiding, making it impossible for any Auror or Order of the Phoenix member to find them. "Right, here's the plan so far: we find the fabled Resurrection Stone, we bring back the ghost of whatever darkest wizard we can think of, and then we use their powers and influence to lead a big attack on the Ministry." Felix grinned, showing his rotten and yellowing teeth; he seemed to be proud of his scheme.

"Bur who are we going to find the Resurrection Stone? No-one knows where it is. Plus, it's just a fairy story; how are we going to find something that has been told to exist?" Estrella questioned.

"Oh, Estrella, how I pity your lack of strategy," Felix cooed mockingly. "He Who Must Not Be Named was able to get his hands on the Elder Wand from Albus Dumbledore, correct?"

"Yeah."

"And he was able to use that wand to fight The Boy Who Lived Twice,"

"And lose his life." Nikolai pointed out.

Felix glared at the small Russian man. "Anyway, look: if He Who Must Not Be Named can do it, then why can't we?"

"Oh you are all so _stupid_!" An echo from the hallway called out.

Felix leapt from his seat, wand in hand. "You what?"

"Listen, the only way to get any power in this world is to have money, knowledge, and a seat within one of the most powerful places in the Wizarding World."

"Look, mate, I don't care who you are, but you better get a move on before I throw you out!" Felix spat.

The stranger began to tut. "Temper, temper! If I remember rightly, you are in the presence of _Muggles_ , my dear Felix,"

"How'd you-"

"Felix, I know everything about you!" The newcomer chucked. "I know that you were sent to Azkaban for the murder of Mudbloods and Blood Traitors alike." They turned to Estrella: "You were sentenced for the torture and murder of a Muggle family in Yorkshire – you got out after, what, nine years?"

"Six years." Estrella growled.

And finally, they turned to face Nikolai. "I remember you. I was at your trial. You were charged with nine murders of Mudblood families, and the attempted torture and killing of another. You, Nikolai Bremovich, were given a life sentence in Azkaban."

Felix interrupted. "Look, it is lovely that you're here to remind us of our past selves, but we're here to sort out how to get back at those stiffs in the Ministry for foiling plans to take over Hogwarts. If you could take yourself and get the hell out of here, then I won't have to kill you."

A flash of green light from an unknown source caused for Felix to fall to the floor dead.

This stranger, whoever they were, wasn't afraid of performing illegal magic. They rolled their neck, causing the bones to creak and crack. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes: my name is Gerald Hastings, and I'm your new salvation."

Estrella and Nikolai, despite just witnessing the unnecessary murder of their leader Felix, burst into laughter. Estrella had tears in her eyes, and Nikolai was slamming his fist against the table, his shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

"How can you be our salvation?" Estrella asked through her laughter. "You look like some little pet of Ministry of Magic. Look at you in your fancy suit, your posh umbrella - Jesus! Look at your shoes!" She bust out again in a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

Gerald thrust himself towards her, almost pining her against a bookshelf. "You listen to me now, you little inconsiderate, loathsome scum: that mole that stole the Registry from the Ministry last year?" Gerald reached into his black leather briefcase and pulled out a large leather-bound book. The gold furnishings on the spine glinted in the moonlight that streamed in from the window. "Well, I stole it."

Nikolai lent forward, intrigued. "So that vas you who stole that book?"

Gerald gave a little nod in pride of what he had accomplished. "Yes, Nikolai, it was. As I am the second in command of the Department of Magical Registrars and Records at the Ministry, I am privy to the content of this book, as well as all the registers that have been created by the Ministry."

"So you're the Ministry's bookkeeper?" Estrella wondered.

"To put it simply: yes, yes I am."

"Sounds a bit naff, if you ask me."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Come on, really? A member of the Department of Magical Registrars and Records stole the _biggest_ and most _obvious_ thing in that place? Seems a bit of a cliché to me."

Gerald stuck his wand in the beating pulse of Estrella's throat. "You do well to remember what I can do, Miss Ruiz. I am not afraid to go to Azkaban for murder."

Estrella scoffed. "You don't scare me."

"I'd start to wise up, if I were you, Miss Ruiz. I am more than you can ever imagine."

"Try me."

Gerald, not wanting to admit defeat against this unbelieving Death Eater, removed his cloak. He stood in a spread eagle position, much resembling Leonardo da Vinci's _Vitruvian Man_.

He muttered ancient spells that had not be spoken for thousands of years. As he did so, white-hot and blinding light had begun to radiate from his skin, and strange symbols began to fly across the room as Gerald continued with the incantation.

Estrella and Nikolai covered their eyes as the light got brighter and brighter till it burnt itself into their retinas.

With one last shout, the light had consumed Gerald and the others, making the house shine with supernatural light. The incantation spoken, being a powerful spell that is hidden from the Wizarding Populace, had caused all sorts of alerting charms to go off across the country: three signals went off in Oxford; almost all signals were activated in the areas surrounding Spinner's End; and the one major alert signal in the Ministry offices in London began to cause panic in the Aurors present.

* * *

By the time any Aurors could arrive at Spinner's End, the house was in ruins, with the charred remains of each person that was present in the house. The blast, or light, that had caused the damaged also had destroyed the next three houses either side, as well as cause some destruction to some properties on the other side of the street.

The young Auror that was talking with neighbours and Muggle residents of Spinner's End took all necessary precautions: "Look, as far as we are aware, ladies and gentlemen, there was a gas leak under this middle property, and the explosion that was a result of this glass leak caused the damage that you see here."

"If there's a gas leak, are we safe in our ow homes?" One middle-aged gentleman called out. "What do we do to keep ourselves safe?"

"Take all precautions necessary in order for you to be safe to reside in our homes."

A young mother pushed her way to the front, her one-year-old on her hip. "You want us to stay in our homes? I don't want to live in a place that can potentially harm me or my family!"

"Ma'am, I advise you to then move to a location where you feel that neither you or your family are in danger."

Harry Potter stood forward. "Thank you all for coming to us with your concerns and your questions. If you could all please return to your homes, there will be members of the police who will becoming around throughout tomorrow to get your statements." He pulled the Auror away from the shrinking crowd. "You handled that well."

"Thank you, sir. I've never had to do this before."

"You did a good job." Harry smiled and pat the young lady on the back. "Look, why don't you go home? Your Auror Trials are coming up in a few weeks, and I want to see how your attacks are coming along."

"Okay." The girl turned and began to walk away, giving herself enough space to Apparate. "Oh, sir?"

"What's up?"

"Uh, there was something that the Cleaer-Upers found amongst the rubble,"

"Huh," Harry mused. "What was it?"

"That Registry book that went missing from that mole leak in December last year."

"Who stole it?"

"Some guy called Gerald Hastings."

"Hastings?"

"Yup. We questioned him, don't you remember?"

"Yes, yes I do. We eventually ruled him out."

She nodded. "We did. Was there a follow-up investigation in to him? I remember you asking for one to be conducted."

"Yes, there was. But it had to be discontinued: there was no evidence to suggest any Dark activity from Gerald or his lifestyle. I distinctly recalled someone comparing him to the colour beige."

"Yeah, that was my girlfriend, sir."

"Girlfriend?"

"Yeah: Penny Garcia from the Investigatory and Eliminations Taskforce. We, well I, asked her to do some snooping."

Harry grinned. "That's good. Give her a personal thanks from me."

"I will, sir,"

"Did she find anything?"

"Nope. She didn't until a few hours ago, when we first were alerted,"

Harry's brow furrowed. "What did she find?"

"Penny found a Patronus message that was swimming in a goldfish bowl on Hastings' desk."

"What did the message say?"

"Uh, it was along the lines of 'Death and decay to those who fight the Darkness. You cannot stop the Darkness from rising again. The Darkness has awakened, and it will come for every Mudblood traitor that dares to live in the world and call themselves a Witch or a Wizard.'"

"Lovely." Harry said.

The girl giggled. "That's what I said to Penny when she told me." She gave a small wave to Harry. "Goodnight sir."

"Goodnight."

* * *

For the rest of the night, and well into the early hours of the morning, Harry let the message that Hastings had left swim in his head, much like the goldfish Patronus that the message came from.

"'Death and decay to those who fight the Darkness. You cannot stop the Darkness from rising again. The Darkness has awakened, and it will come for every Mudblood traitor that dares to live in the world and call themselves a Witch or a Wizard.'"


	2. Chapter 2

**IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: These characters, though I love them all dearly, are not mine; they belong to Bloomsbury Publishing and JK Rowling respectively. Any characters that are of my own creation will be mentioned below.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWO: MISSING OWLS**

Mrs Tonks and Teddy where travelling home after spending a week in Godric's Hollow with Harry and his family for Lily Luna's second birthday. Everyone in the family came down to visit - even Professor McGonagall and Hagrid made an appearance.

Bill offered to drive them home along with his family - much to Mrs Tonks' disagreement to it. Teddy was sitting between Dominique and Victoire whilst Mrs Tonks sat next to a sleeping Louis; Bill and Fleur lazily chatted with her along the way.

Teddy, whenever he had been travelling by car, would gaze out the window and watch the world race by; it fascinated him to see the green of the deep forests and the small houses zoom past through the window. But this time was different: he somehow seemed more content to let his head bump against the car window or watch his cousins as they amused themselves. Victoire was reading some Muggle book that was all the rage (according to her friends at the Muggle primary school in Falmouth) and Dominique was playing a video game that made all these different noises (Teddy once sat with her for an afternoon and watched Dom play this game - 'Pokemon' it was called).

For what felt five minutes, Teddy didn't register that he was back home before he was being sleepily bought out of the Bill's car and directed into the house by Mrs Tonks.

"Now, wasn't that a nice little holiday?" Mrs Tonks went about the kitchen, preparing a light supper for the two of them.

Teddy, still letting his mind come out of its sleepy haze, wobbled as he walked from the living room to the kitchen. "What?"

"Oh Edward," Mrs Tonks cooed. She guided him to a chair, and handed him a glass of cold milk. She ruffled his hair before going back to the food.

"What did you say, gran?" Teddy spoke as he drank.

"I said 'wasn't that a nice little holiday?'"

"Oh, yeah, it was." Teddy nodded. "I missed James, Albus and Lily whilst I was at Hogwarts,"

"And they missed you! Whenever I visited Lily always asked after you, always," She laughed. "She would sit on my lap as I would read out your letters to her, and she would try to trace the words with her fingers,"

Teddy smiled. "She loves to do that."

* * *

Whilst the two ate, Mrs Tonks could see that Teddy's behaviour had changed: he was eating sluggishly, and he was very quite as he ate his tea.

As the two were cleaning up, Mrs Tonks questioned him: "Is everything okay?"

Teddy did not reply as he was entranced by the soapy bubbles that slid and glittered on his hands.

"Edward," Her tone turned sharp. "What is wrong? You have been fine all week, but now you're back home you've turned very inward and distracted. Is everything all right? Are any of your friends having trouble?"

Teddy shook his head. "'M just not feeling great." He mumbled.

Mrs Tonks briefly glanced at the calendar, and saw that there would be a full moon later that night. She sighed and hugged him close. "Do you want me to leave anything out for you? You get restless sometimes when you get Moon Sick."

"Could you leave out some ham sandwiches? I noticed on the last few full moons I've gotten really hungry."

Mrs Tonks smiled, "Of course. Any drinks? Tea, juice?"

"Nah, I think I'm going to be okay. If you hear any strange noises, it's most likely me."

* * *

As the moon rose, Teddy sat on the roof with the plate of sandwiches. He remembered the times were he'd be up all night, and he'd go for a run or visit the beach to give his buzzing mind a rest.

His owl Archie was gliding around, Teddy could see. He let Archie out at night to hunt; besides Helga the cat, Archie was a reason why there weren't any mice in the house.

"Have you ever felt like howling?" Someone asked him.

Teddy almost fell off of the roof out of shock. Regaining his balance, he saw Victoire floating on a broom at the height of the chimney.

"What are you doing here, Vic?" Teddy asked. "If your dad noticed that you're gone, he'd go mental!"

"Nah, he wouldn't." Victoire grasped onto the roof tiles as she crab-walked toward Teddy, settling herself besides him. "I sometimes get headaches around the full moon, or I can't sleep. When it gets real bad, my dad lets me out."

"Wow. Never thought he'd be the kind of dad to do that."

Victoire shrugged. "He's pretty cool like that."

"So what do you do when you're out of the house? I've never seen you when I've gone to the beach."

"I go to the beach too, but I mainly hang about the rock caves and the shallows." She zipped up her hooded jacket. "And sometimes, I just sit in the sand and watch the moon,"

"Really?"

"Yeah. I find it kinda nice and relaxing. Clears my head up."

Teddy contemplated Victoire's actions; _it was a smart way to deal with it_ , he thought, _I might do that next time._ "Hey, wanna howl?" He grinned wolfishly, referring to her earlier question.

She smiled widely, nodding.

"Three... Two... One!" Teddy began to howl lowly, from the base of his throat, and let it crescendo until the howl echoed into the night.

Victoire joined in as Teddy paused for breath. Her's was a lot higher, and sounded a lot clearer and more natural than his did.

They continued to howl until their throats were raw and they were giggling hysterically. Some of the neighbourhood dogs had decided to join in, releasing more deep howls into the night sky.

Afterward, the two children sat and watched the night turn into the dawn, letting the golden streaks turn the sky a rosy pink and gold. Victoire, once the time reached five o'clock, hopped back onto her broom - but not before eating some of the leftover sandwiches.

"Thanks for being with me," Teddy sleepily said.

Victoire beamed. "That's okay. Sometimes we need people to remind us that we're no alone."

* * *

For the remainder of the summer, Teddy split his time between playing with Victoire at Shell Cottage, going swimming with the Weasleys, and visiting Godric's Hollow (when his gran permitted him use of the Floo Network). When he wasn't spending time with his family, Teddy would write and reply to the letters that his friends from Hogwarts sent to him.

In her most recent letter, Jem said that she and her brother Stefan were on a small road-trip through Europe; Amir in his latest letter mentioned that he'd so far had been splitting his holiday between Afghanistan and London due to his father's job; Tristan was visiting family in America, so his letters would be few and far between; and Ollie said in his last letter that he'd be milling about in London, but will be visiting Ireland until the middle of August.

He had finished up his reply to Ollie when Teddy noticed that Archie wasn't in his room. "He's probably got himself caught in the chimney again." Teddy went down into the living room, and reached into the chimney floom, flitting his hand about to see if Archie had become stuck.

But, strangely, Archie wasn't there.

Teddy thought that it was a little strange, but Archie did sometimes find other places in the house to either hide or to sleep in, seeing as Teddy's room invited noise and light. He went into the loft, seeing at that was dark (the perfect place for an owl to sleep in). Searching about with a torch in hand, and some owl treats in the other, Teddy carefully went about the loft, trying to find his missing owl. "Archie? Are you there? Archie?" He listened out for any fluttering or hooting snores, but he couldn't hear any.

"Teddy, what are you doing?" Mrs Tonks called out.

Teddy stuck his head out of the loft hatch. "Archie's missing."

"Have you checked the chimney?"

"Yes."

"Well, he's probably found a nice tree to laze about in. Now come down, tea is ready."

* * *

Teddy remained baffled at why Archie was missing throughout the evening. As he went to bed, he left his bedroom window open, as well as Archie's cage. Teddy left some owl treats on the windowsill, and left a small bowl of water and more owl treats in the cage.

He went to sleep hoping that Archie would be back by morning.

* * *

By the morning, Archie still hadn't come back to the house.

Teddy continued his search of the loft, but Archie could not be found. He searched the shed, under the stairs, and even went up and down the street, asking his various neighbours if they had seen an owl flying about in their houses.

"I just don't get it," Teddy complained to Victoire. "How can an owl just vanish?"

"Not sure, really," She replied. "But it's not the first time that Archie has gone missing, has it?"

"Well, no, but he always comes back a few days later."

"See! If he's disappeared before, then he's surely going to come back!"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Vic," Bill said, sitting down next to his daughter. "There's been reports of owls going missing all over the country."

"What?"

"It was reported in today's _Prophet_ ," Bill fetched the paper from the living room in Shell Cottage. " _T_ _he Ministry of Magic had finally made a report of the large number of owls that have been missing over the past few weeks. Kingsley Shaklebolt, Minister for Magic, has this to say: 'We are not sure why these owls have gone missing; at first, it was only owls sent out by the Ministry that had been missing, but more and more reports of household owls disappearing have been coming into our offices daily. We are currently holding internal investigations as to why this is happening. We will report to you again when we have more information._ "

"So this has been going on for a few weeks?" Teddy exclaimed. "And the Ministry are only doing something _now_?!"

Bill calmed Teddy down. "I know, but they have bigger problems after that explosion in Spinner's End."

* * *

Teddy kept tabs on the reports of the missing owls, and had his fingers crossed that Archie would come back. He listened to the radio non-stop, hoping to catch any more information from the Minister.

When Harry visited for tea, Teddy bombarded him with questions about the investigation. "Whoa there, Ted, one question at a time!"

"Have you found any of the missing owls?"

"Yes, but only some. The Department of Communication is trying to petition for trackers to be placed on the owls, just in case something like this is to happen again."

"Was one of the owls you found Archie? I haven't seen him in the last few days."

Harry sipped his tea. "We haven't had a chance to record all owls that have been found, but I'll let you know if he is one of them."

Just then, there was a small tap at the window: it was a tawny owl, carrying a letter in its dark beak. "Looks like it's from Hogwarts, Ted," Harry opened the window to let the owl in. It nuzzled Harry's hand before giving it a gentle nip before dropping the letter in his hand and flying off again. "Huh, feels a lot thicker this time."

Teddy opened the letter, seeing Professor Flitwick's flowing handwriting fill the page.

 _Dear Mr Lupin,_

 _Please find enclosed the list of your various textbooks that are needed for your second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

 _Also, enclosed is a notice from the headmistress about the recent disappearance of the owls that has occurred over the previous weeks._

 _Hoping you are well,_

 _Professor Flitwick  
Deputy Headmaster_

He pulled out the second letter; this one was written in emerald green ink.

 _Dear students,_

 _As you are aware, there have been reports of missing owls throughout the country, and many of those missing owls have come from students._

 _I am pleased to report that the majority of students who have had their owls go missing will find that their owl has been accounted for here at Hogwarts. On September 1st, I would like if the students listed below will immediately make their way to the Owlery, where Mr Filch will make a record of your owl._

 _Hoping you are all well,_

 _Professor McGonagall  
Headmistress_

"See Ted?" Harry pat him on the shoulder. "Archie is most likely at Hogwarts. Let's have a look at that list,"

 _Students with their owls missing:  
Apperly, Robert  
Barrowman, Harriet  
Bennett, James  
Blake, David  
Bowman, Sarah  
Carmichael, Gemma  
Castles, Freida  
Jameson, David  
Johnson, Allison  
Jarman, Leonard  
Keenan-Lindsay, Stefan  
King, Thomas  
Knightly, Benjamin  
Knott, Lucille  
Lupin, Edward  
Scott, Alexander  
Sohrab, Amir  
Stumph, Lewis_

"Look, Archie's at Hogwarts!" Harry rubbed Teddy's shoulder. "There's no need to worry now. He's safe."

"But what about all the other owls? Where have they gone?"


End file.
